Drew Proposes Senior Citizen Property Tax Programs

The Finance and Government Operations Commission voted on Wednesday evening to send to the full council an ordinance with three programs to provide tax relief for senior citizens. Mayor Dan Drew presented the programs to the Commission, with the technical support of Damon Braasch of the Tax Office. Each of the programs provides either a tax credit, a tax freeze, or a tax deferral.

With FGO approval, the tax relief ordinance will be voted on by the full Common Council at

City Auditor: Board of Education Had $1M Deficit in 2011

The Finance and Government Operations Commission last night heard from Joe Kask, a partner in the accounting firm of Blum and Shapiro, which audited the financial statements of the city for the fiscal year ending on June 30th, 2011. Their report gave a glowing assessment of the city's financial book-keeping. However, Blum Shapiro uncovered several issues with the accounts of the Board of Education. These involved "internal control over financial reporting", and a combined "negative fund balances" of over $1M.

Showmobile Resolution and Police Budget Request to be Heard at Council Meeting

The Finance and Government Operations Committee met on Wednesday to get an update on the budget, and to consider resolutions with financial impacts for the upcoming Common Council meeting.

The Showmobile

F&G approved a motion to standardize the fee charged by the city for use of the portable stage used by many groups in the city for festivals and other large gatherings. The 'showmobile' includes a lighting and sound system, and is used in church functions, road races, and motorcycle mania, among other events.

Tina Gomes, financial analyst in the Mayor's office, told the F&G that the Public Works employees who are required to set up and take down the showmobile cost the city $90 per hour. This is currently the fee charged for use of the showmobile. However, the Common Council commonly waives the fee upon request from a non-profit organization; seven complete waivers were granted in the last fiscal year. In the months of July and August this year, the city has received no money from organizations using the showmobile.

Gomes worked with Council Members Hope Kasper and Ron Klattenberg to develop a fee structure which would provide a discount to non-profit city organizations, but still generate

some income to defray city expenses and to pay for maintenance on the showmobile. Their proposed resolution would place the fee at $75 per hour, and eliminate waivers.

The F&G voted unanimously to send this resolution to the council for consideration at their meeting on TUESDAY.

Police Budget Request

Acting Chief of Police Patrick McMahon came to the F&G Committee to request the addition of $1880 to his $11M budget for this fiscal year. He said that when the Council voted to give a 10% across-the-board cut to the Police Department budget, it reduced funding for a contract that was already in place for traffic signal maintenance. McMahon told the Council members that he was not completely sure that he could make up a $1880 shortfall in a contractual line by shifting money from other budget items in the remaining 10 months of this fiscal year.

McMahon told the Council members that he did not necessarily expect them to approve the budget transfer. When Klattenberg asked him why he didn't just wait to see if he actually needed the money and make a request towards the end of the fiscal year, McMahon replied, "I want to go on record as I'll be short."

McMahon's request for the addition to his budget will be considered at TUESDAY'S meeting of the Common Council.

EPA Superfund Site on Walnut Street Is Cause for Concern at City Hall

The Finance and Government Operations Committee heard from Planning Director Bill Warner that the Environmental Protection Agency is aggressively pursuing the cleanup of a toxic waste superfund site between Route 9 and Walnut Street. The city may bear a multi-million dollar responsibility for the cost of this clean-up, because the site was used as a city dump in the 1950s.

The site was formerly owned by OMO Manufacturing Company, which was famous as a manufacturer of "dress shields" (advertisement photo from The Courant in 1896), and also made rubber and plastic apparel.

According to Warner's presentation, in 1935 OMO deeded 12 acres to the city, and in 1957 the City deeded some of this land back to OMO. When the city returned the land, they retained dumping rights, "Said property is conveyed subject to the right of the City of Middletown to continue to use said area for dumping purposes until the said city of Middletown shall have acquired other dumping privileges." The land is currently owned by JR Marino, who bought it in 1999, the property has an assessed value of about $600,000.

Warner allayed concerns that contamination on the site might get into the water supply. He said it is over 2,000 feet from the aquifer recharge area, and that both the Water Department and the EPA have tested water samples and found no contaminants. The EPA began to investigate the site for contamination in 1990, and some time after that placed it on the superfund cleanup list. However, it is not on the "National Priorities List" of dangerous sites.

The EPA is aggressively pursuing assessment of contamination on the site, and has already spent $400,000 on this. They have budgeted $2M for the cleanup, but Warner said the EPA made it clear to the city that this preliminary estimate could be exceeded, depending on what they find in the site.

By law, any entity found to be responsible for contamination is also responsible for the cost of clean-up. The committee extensively discussed the process of finding other "Potential Responsible Parties" (PRPs) to get the City off the hook for the millions that might be spent on clean-up. Warner expressed little hope that the City would have in the 1950s recorded what was put in the city dump and by whom, much less retained those records.

Unless other PRPs can be found, the City will be the PRP with the deepest pockets, an alarming prospect for the City's finances. Councilman Gerald Daley suggested the state as a PRP because they may have moved some of the dumped material in building Route 9.

Warner explained that the City has the right to undertake the clean-up itself (with EPA supervision), and that this would likely be considerably less expensive than letting the EPA take the lead on clean-up. Although alarmed at the cost of an EPA-led cleanup, the Council members were not enthusiastic about the City taking on a complex toxic fund clean-up. Additionally, they balked at putting about $150,000 into the budget for next year to retain an environmental professional.

Warner cited the experience of Southington, which paid $3.8M out of a $30M clean-up cost for toxic waste at their closed landfill. The payment was about 20 years after the clean-up had commenced.

Council members Daley and Klattenberg expressed a preference for letting the EPA undertake the clean-up, with a hope that the bill would not come due for a long time, and that other PRPs would be found, and that insurance might cover some portion of the bill. The matter will be considered at a special meeting of the Common Council in the middle of May.

F&G Supports IT Department Move

The Finance and Government Operations Committee gave its support to a proposal from Information Technology Director Bill Oliver and Mayor Sebastian Giuliano to move the IT department to new quarters in Riverview Plaza. The plan could allow the movement of the Parking Department from the Police Station to City Hall.

Oliver explained that the IT department had insufficient office space, the servers for the city have insufficient power, cooling, storage, and space, and there is no backup power available to keep the city's website available in the event of a power failure to City Hall. He presented several options for new locations, two of them on upper floors of Main Street Market and two in Riverview Plaza.

The Committee agreed with Oliver that moving IT into the soon to be vacated Dialysis Center on the ground floor of Riverview Plaza made the most sense of the available options. The space is about 8,000 square feet, and would cost the City about $73,000 per year in rent. The advantages of this location are the extra space for city storage, the central location, and the common wall with the police station, which might allow emergency power sharing and data cable access.

The Committee members were supportive of moving IT, but were concerned about the second part of the package, which was a proposal to move the Parking Department from the Police Station to the vacated IT space in City Hall. Oliver explained that the Mayor, the Police Chief, and the Parking Director supported this move, but Committee members said they wished to hear from the Parking Committee and Downtown Business Disrict, both of which they thought had strongly supported keeping the Parking Department in the Police Station.

F&G agreed to support the option of requesting $48,000 in the upcoming budget to secure a lease on the Riverview location.

Bulky Waste Spills into Finance and Government Operations

An appropriation to fund bulky waste disposal led to contentious debate at Wednesday's meeting of the Finance and Government Operations Commission. The Commission ultimately gave unanimous support to the request for $30,000 to pay for waste disposal.

The debate over the funding and policy of bulky waste pick-ups actually broke out before it was to be considered on the agenda. Mayor Giuliano offered his support for the appropriation during the public hearing, and in contravention of normal procedures, the chair of the Commission, Councilman Klattenberg, allowed a vigorous debate to take place during that period of the meeting. Commission members Gerry Daley and Klattenberg clashed with Director of Public Works Bill Russo and Mayor Giuliano over the need for the appropriation, and over what Bill Russo had told the Council when they voted to change the city's bulky waste pick-up policy. Commissioners Joe Bibisi and Phil Pessina largely supported Russo and the Mayor.

Giuliano told the commissioners that he had asked Public Works to pick up all the bulky waste that property owners have been leaving out. He indicated that while Public Works could pick up the trash without a further appropriation, they could do nothing but store it in the city yard without further funds, "We have no money to dispose of what we pick up." Russo said the problem with bulky waste was not confined to any part of the city, "It's not an isolated problem, it's city-wide."

Russo said the problem had gotten much worse since the Council changed the policy on bulky waste pickup, effective July 1st. To increase revenues, the Council abolished the free weekly pickup of bulky waste in the sanitation district (the central part of the city) and the once-every-three-years free pick-up of bulky waste outside the sanitation district, and implemented a charge of $75 for every bulky waste pickup.

Councilman Daley was incredulous that there was no money for this, already in the Public Works budget. He insisted that Russo had told the Council in May that the Council's $30,000 appropriation for illegal dumping would be sufficient for the entire fiscal year. Russo responded that "illegal dumping" referred to trash dumped on isolated roads such as Sachem Drive or River Road, and that bulky waste left outside a house was in a different category. He said that while an old mattress or refrigerator on the front lawn was a health code violation, it was not the same as illegal dumping.

Giuliano suggested that enforcement of the ordinance would motivate landowners to pay the $75 fee. He pointed out that if the city placed liens on a property, the lien fees and possible subsequent legal fees would rapidly escalate the costs of leaving garbage out, and he predicted owners would start paying the bulky waste pickup fee.

Russo wanted the appropriation to support a return to the old policy of providing free bulky waste pickups, but Giuliano told him and the Commission members, "The appropriation will not change the ordinance." He told the Council members that if they wanted to do so it would have to be done as a separate matter.

Russo indicated that there had been a total of 81 citations for trash given by the Health Department. The commissioners were very clear that they wanted the citations to continue, but that they also wanted the trash to be removed. Councilman Bibisi urged, "Cite 'em first, then pick it up!"

The Commission unanimously passed the $30,000 appropriations request, but even after the vote continued their rancorous questioning of Russo about the bulky waste situation. The debate and questions will likely continue into the next meeting of the Common Council, when it will consider the appropriation request.

Other Items of Business.

The Director of Parks and Recreation, Ray Santostefano, requested permission to take money that had been appropriated for park ranger salaries and instead use it to purchase surveillance cameras to deter vandalism at isolated parks locations. The Commission strongly supported his idea, but denied the request on procedural grounds, saying it would be inappropriate to transfer from salaries to capital equipment. They encouraged Santostefano to return with a request for a new allocation for capital purchases.

Director Finance and Revenue Services Carl Erlacher reported that revenues into the city were holding steady. He said that the city had collected 50.8% of tax revenue for this year, a number almost exactly the same as a year ago. He also said that they had collected $742,000 in back taxes, above the $500,000 that the budget had projected for the year.

Finance committee approves parking department

Wednesday evening the Finance and Government Operations Committee took action on several budgetary items. They approved several routine requests for fund transfers, approved the acceptance of Rockfall Foundation grants to support a walking trail and a farmers market study, and forwarded their unanimous approval of a new City Department of Parking to the Common Council.

The Finance and Government Operations Committee consists of five members of Common Council: Joe Bibisi, Gerald Daley, Hope Kasper, Ron Klattenberg, and Phil Pessina. Ron Klattenberg chairs the committee, which meets on the Wednesday prior to the monthly Common Council meetings. They are responsible for the initial approval of budgetary matters, their approval sends an issue to the full Common Council for final approval.

Parking Department
Business owners and shoppers alike, frustrated with the parking situation in downtown Middletown, have urged the city to create a coherent parking plan. A major study, completed in August, 2008 (and available HERE), proposed:

Another important immediate action item is to pursue the creation of an autonomous, financially self-sustaining Parking Department, which will provide consistency in parking strategies, enforcement, and facility maintenance. Any surplus revenue collected by the Parking Department should be directed to downtown parking infrastructure maintenance and improvement.

The Parking Study further recommended that the Parking Department implement detailed monitoring of parking demand, to optimise the parking available for businesses and shoppers in the downtown areas.

The two major initial costs for this Department, which the F&G committee spent some time considering, are the salary of the director and the cost of office space. The F&G felt that if space was available, the Parking Department should be in the Police Department, to synergize with the functions there. However, all of the F&G members present agreed that the creation of a Parking Department was so important that it should not be delayed over a decision on office space. The proposal for a Parking Department was sent to the Common Council with unanimous approval.

Grants to plan for a Middletown Farmers Market, and to prepare a Middletown Walking Guide
The Rockfall Foundation awarded the city $2500 to initiate and sponsor a series of four planning sessions (charrettes) to bring farmers, land-use commissioners, city officials and members of the public together to establish a successful and sustainable farmers market. They also granted $1900 for a Middletown Walking Guide which would be published on-line. The F&G unanimously approved the acceptance of those funds.

Funds to attend fair housing conference denied.
Faith Jackson, director of Human Relations, submitted a request for $60 to attend a one-day conference in Cromwell, entitled "The Future of Fair Housing in America", sponsored by the Fair Housing Association of CT. This request was denied, with Hope Kasper and Phil Pessina voting 'naye', and Joe Bibisi and Ron Klattenberg voting 'yes'. Kasper and Pessina both emphasized that the denial was strictly a matter of fairness--the F&G Committee had this year denied numerous similar requests from city employees for conference fees, and they did not want to set a precedent for a new policy. Jackson indicated that the conference was of such importance to her job that she would be attending it even without reimbursement from the City.

Westfield Fire Station Roof
Russ Andrews, of the Westfield Fire Department, requested that the city request $80,00o from the state through the Local Capital Improvement Plan (LOCIP), to pay for half of the cost of a roofing replacement and improvement. This replacement roof will have a PVC white cover, and will be considered a "green-style roof" according to Andrews. Only municipalities are eligible to apply for LOCIP funds, hence the request through the F&G committee for the city to apply for the funds on behalf of the Westfield Fire Department. The committee unanimously approved the request, which now goes to the Common Council.

Other requests
The directors of Public Works and the Water and Sewer Departments came to request funds to cover replacement parts, and new equipment. Those requests were all approved.

Parking Department Proposal Moves Forward

The Finance and Government Operations Commission voted unanimously Wednesday night to send a plan to create an autonomous Parking Department to the Common Council for a vote.

Downtown merchants urged the commission to follow the recommendation of the parking study group and create a department which would focus exclusively on parking issues in town. Currently, parking matters are handled by the Police Department.

Because a parking department would actually raise revenue, estimated at $700,000 annually in it's first year, the creation of a department would require an additional $122,000 of that money earmarked for salaries, office space and other expenses, added to the current $230,000 which is currently budgeted.

Merchants and downtown property owners like Marc Levine, Peter Harding and Welles Guilmartin claimed that the new department could help solve the ongoing downtown parking problem, and increase revenue from lots like the one at Mellili Plaza where 70 cars a day are estimated to avoid the parking fee by simply waiting until the parking attendent is off duty.

The Common Council will consider the recommendation at its next meeting.

In other business, the commission tabled a request by the Police Department for upgraded Mobile Data Terminals until it becomes clear how much the state will contribute in the coming year in Local Capital Improvement (LoCIP) funds.

They also turned down a request from the Water and Sewer Department to attend a conference based on a pledge to prohibit conference attendance except in cases where accreditation is at risk.

The Commission approved confined space training for the Parks and Recreation Department, and they accepted a "Safer" grant for $494,727 which the Fire Department received from the Federal government to increase staffing levels for specially trained personnel.

The Commission also decided on a workshop session for a new resolution on the use of city vehicles by municipal employees. The new resolution would explicitly restrict the use of vehicles to on-call purposes and prohibit personal use by employees.

The Commission also approved an increase in budget for snow removal for 2009 due to the increase in storms, particularly storms on weekends, causing overtime costs.

Learn Something New Every Day

As a 20-year veteran of the local political scene, I thought I'd seen everything. But that's because I'd never been to a meeting of the Finance and Government Operations Committee, where a select group of Common Council members and the Mayor go over all the upcoming City expenditures with Finance Director Carl Erlacher.



C'mon now, Middletown Eye readers, wake up!
This is your government in action!




Okay, so I admit it's not exactly visionary stuff. The meeting started with a review of whether the Police Department should lease or buy a new copy machine, which can also serve as a printer and fax. Then it moved to a discussion on the necessity of spending Public Works and Health Department funds in cleaning up a blighted property on River Road which has become an illegal dump and habitat for rodents -- even though those funds would have to be formally approved at a later date (and then charged back to the land-owner). That part was kind of exciting because there were photos of the garbage from different angles, which had me humming Alice's Restaurant until the next topic came up.

Should Middletown follow Bloomfield's lead and set up a program where retired seniors could be part of a workfare program in the City? Or should it be like Torrington, and extend a state Senior Tax Freeze to local households, as long as they make less than $36,500 per couple and don't have assets of more than $125,000 other than their primary residence? Alas, those questions will have to wait until next month since they were tabled pending further analysis. The Westfield Fire Department will have to wait for an answer too, since their request for funds to fix their roof was delayed until more data is produced.

At one point, it looked as though a surge of decisiveness would result in the recommendation to hire new staff in Information Technology -- several Council members noted that we are dependent on just a few staff people who actually understand how all those computers work. The Mayor spoke eloquently about the pitfalls of treating your I.T. staff as maintenance workers. He even quoted David Bauer as saying that every City employee is a content provider for the City's internet...and maybe it was inTRAnet too...okay, okay, so I'm not sure I totally followed that part. But the point is that we have to stop treating technology like something that breaks and start thinking of it as the way that we do our job. Unfortunately, in spite of the shared sense of purpose, the action was dashed on the rocks of realization: the item had been postponed until a "date certain" at the Common Council and could not be addressed until January. But when that time comes, the I.T. department can be sure that this committee is on their side!

Now, it's unusual enough that I was spending my Wednesday evening at this meeting, when I could have been out shopping and supporting the local economy. But more unusual was the presence of about a dozen Middletown High upperclassmen, who were attentive throughout the proceedings. As it happens, they were all students in the MHS American Politics class, taught by a Ms. Adams. She requires each student to spend 7 hours in the civic realm, typically 4 hours volunteering for a political campaign of their choice, and 3 hours attending City meetings. Their presence lent an atmosphere of festivity to the meeting, as extra chairs had to be brought in. As Chair Ron Klattenberg noted: in terms of public attendance, it was a record turn-out for the Finance and Government Operations Committee!

Finally, as business came to a close, I went to the table accompanied by Rick Kearney, the City's Economic Development Specialist. We presented our petition that the City implement one of the recommendations of the Parking Study, namely the formation of a parking department. Neither defeat nor victory was ours, as the issue was forwarded to the Ordinance Committee. The Ordinance Committee?! Wonder when they meet?

I left the meeting with a feeling of gratitude for the Common Council members who spend their evenings at the F&GO. It's a thankless job, but one of the many necessary tasks which make things run in this little slice of participatory democracy that we call Middletown.